People, Process, Program, Performance

Building up companies requires many ingredients. It first starts with intent or should it be termed as ‘purpose.’ Why are you doing what you are doing? Without this even the best of the idea would fail. If there is no purpose, there is every possibility that when difficult times will hit, which definitely will, extinction may become a truth.

Why do you do business for? If this question is asked to 10 people, 9 out of 10 or may be 10 out of 10 will answer profit. There is a very insignificant possibility of some other answer. Yes, profit is true, after all, any business that is done must yield profits, else there is no point in starting a venture. But simply working for profit may only yield loss. Remember profit is the end result of a synchronized effort.

Philip Kotler in his bible writes that there are 4 Ps of marketing – Product, Price, Place and Promotion. In the 14th edition of Marketing Management, he has added another 4 – People, Process, Program and Performance. This article is for the later 4.

#People are the one who will make or break a company. The truth is that there has always been shortage of people who can lead a brand to success. Good people have a structured way to business and are therefore expensive. Even after this, I vehemently believe that everyone must be tested before trusting. Trust you must, but test is needed before trusting. Blind trust will do more harm than good.

When #organisation grows so do the people. When people accumulated there is huge possibility that corporate politics will start making home. It is not possible to avoid it. Gossips increase and there is mis information that leads to chaos. Therefore, people have to be handled with a lot of strictness. If a company take participation in such kind of activities, the company is bound to get into internal conflict which will eventually lead to catastrophic consequences. Leaving everything aside, focus on work.

People also means behavior. Many a times, people at the top management mis-behave and there has been instances where employees have left a huge amount of compensation only because of this. For a company that has a long-term game plan, it is important the everyone is respected irrespective of what position they are. This respect will lead to retention and will eventually give result.

#Processes set the roadmap. Without a standard operating process for each division of business, one day it will fall. If asked in simple way what is process, the correct answer would be, “it is the foundation of the building.” A skyscraper can only be built if the base is strong. What are the roots? They are the SOP. For every division of business, it is of utmost importance that an SOP is put into place and then followed.

#Program here would mean that every effort should be made towards #marketing. It covers all consumer directed activities. Any kind of marketing that is done, is with one goal – acquire consumer. Offline or online, traditional non-traditional, a company must keep on trying and then the one that works has to be replicated.

#Performance also know as measurement is a tool to gauge what has the company achieved with respect to the goal set. In order words, it is called Target Vs Actual. The human mind is so lazy that unless it is given a shock it will make a person lull. Therefore, every one has to be under targets – sales, collection, marketing, production, supply chain, frontline, middle management, top management and so on so forth. Reviews are an integral part of a successful business attempt. Everything that is reviewed will give result.

Despite doing the above it is very important that companies have strong resilience in them. They have to keep the fighting spirit on. As a consultant, I have never seen anyone who has not struggled for success. The irony is that even after success, the struggle does not end. Some change in policies, a sudden change in #management, new process in place anything can happen to disrupt business. The only way to success is to stick around.

Sharp Consulting and Implementing Company is one of the few companies that excels in FMCG consulting. It has #launched, #re-launched, #scaled up many businesses and put SOP into place for every division. We will be completing 8 years into business and whatever we have gained in these 8 years is to give.